Book Illustration

V&A Illustration Awards 2013: Published Category - Book Illustration

Book Illustration Award Winner

Anna and Elena Balbusso

Illustrations for Eugene Onegin by Alexander PushkinPublished by the Folio Society, London, 2012

The Balbusso twins have been working together as a closely knit creative team since 1998, their style developing as a result of their collaboration. ‘It is not possible to quantify what Anna has given from what Elena has’, they say.

Their illustrations are an equal marriage between the hand-rendered and the digital, with each section drawn in pencil and black gouache on paper, creating visible brush-strokes. These sections are then digitised, so that colour can be added in Photoshop.

The judges called the illustrations, ‘Elegant and unusual, immediately appealing images with imagination, mystery and a pinch of spooky fantasy’.